Funding from the U.S. Forest Service certainly served its purpose of enhancing undergraduate research at Delta State University (DSU) in Cleveland, Mississippi.
Almost three years ago, Tanya McKinney and Ellen Green, associate professors of biology at DSU, started brainstorming a project to give science undergraduates research experience in the fields of microbiology and entomology. They knew they would have to look for outside funding.
Around that time, May 2010, the Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) sent out a request for proposals for research studies or training opportunities for students and faculty from under-represented institutions.
“We were very fortunate to get two years funding from the SRS Partnership Enhancement Initiative grant,” Green said. “It allowed us to design a research experience that we could incorporate into the classroom and reach as many students as possible.” Green and McKinney worked closely with Nathan Schiff, research entomologist with the SRS Center for Bottomland Hardwoods Research in nearby Stoneville, Mississippi.
As part of their research experience, students in the program “bio-prospect” in the guts of beetle larvae to discover new cellulases, enzymes that break down cellulose, a major component of plant cell walls.
From The USFS Southern Research Station: https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/compass/2012/12/27/bio-prospecting-in-beetles/